Best Website Maps for Getting Around Paris: Metro, Bus, RER Train

Jun 7, 2011
Christina Gregoire

Best Easy Map of Paris Metro - thinkofacolour

It's difficult to get around Paris if you can't figure out the official transit website. Here are other maps and webpages that are easier to use.

If you are like me, you will have a terrible time navigating some of the Parisian Metro, bus, and train websites. Hey, I can read enough French to get by, but I have yet to find one easy-to-use, all-encompassing site where I can type something like, “What’s the best way to get from the Bastille to the Louvre?” Actually, I would never ask that question because the answer is simple. You take Metro Line 1 from Metro Bastille towards La Defense and get off at Metro Palais Royale-Musee du Louvre.

Paris Metro Tip

When using the Metro (subway) in Paris, you must know the correct Metro line number and the name of the place where you get off, but you must also know the final stop on each end of that track. For example, on Metro Line 1 (M1), if you are at the Bastille and you want to go west towards Arc de Triomphe, you need to find Metro 1 direction La Defense. But coming back to Bastille, you need Metro 1 direction Chateau de Vincennes (the other terminus). Without taking note of a subway's end point, you could be on the right subway, but going in the wrong direction.

Actually, you probably will be able to walk to many tourist spots from your hotel, but after a few hours your body may cry out for help. And, sometimes you will wander around hopelessly lost even though you know that that darn Eiffel Tower is “right over there...somewhere,” because you just saw it. So, knowing a few Metro stops might be a good backup plan.

Paris Metro Map

The Paris Metro is the best and cheapest way to get around the city. Well, I don’t know what it is about the front page of the ratp.fr Metro website that drives me crazy, but I have a hard time navigating that site. I can’t figure out where I am supposed to click to find the type of map I need. My suspicion is that the Paris Metro website was designed by the Paris Taxi and Bus Driver Union.

You might be one of those tourists who likes to carry a fancy GPS navigational toy while you wander around Paris, but I like to know the best Metro or bus route before I get to the point where I am walking in circles. Hey, the Parisian streets do not form a Manhattan-style grid and Parisian streets change names every few blocks.

Find Your Metro Stop with Google Maps

Here is an example of how I use my Paris website system. If you have better interactive maps, please let me know. However, I want websites that people can use even if they are unfamiliar with the layout of Paris, because the best way to learn Paris is to think in terms of Metro stops (and neighborhoods) rather than street addresses.

For my example, I will pick a hotel (Hotel de l’Abbaye) in a part of Paris that I don’t know near Luxembourg Garden (Jardin du Luxembourg). I suggest that you open another window and follow along on your own.

To get around Paris, you need to know the Metro station closest to your hotel.
In the new browser window, go to Google Maps.
Type the name of the hotel we are using for the example: Hotel de l'Abbaye, Paris. Choose the one that says something like "Hôtel de l'Abbaye Saint-Germain Paris, 10 Rue Cassette, 75006 Paris, France"
You should see a map of a Paris neighborhood in this browser window. The red A is the hotel.
On the Google map, find the closest Metro station. The icon for the Metro station is a blue M with a circle around it.
The Metro station nearest to the hotel is the Metro Saint-Sulpice. Keep this Google map open. You may need to reference it later.

i-Metro Map for Metro and Bus Routes

Now you are ready for step two. I like to use the i-Metro website because I don't have to know any addresses and I get clear visuals. So, open another new browser window and type the words "i-metro.nanika.net paris" into the Google or Bing search box. You will end up at this webpage: iMetro.Nanika.net. At this site, you can look up how to get anywhere in Paris using the Metro, the public bus system, or the RER commuter trains.

On the i-Metro Route Search page:

Type "Saint-Sulpice" (the Metro stop by your hotel) into the departure box and type "Louvre" as the destination. We will assume that you want the museum stop, so pick "Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre" as your destination.
Click search.
You will see an error message, although the error message is rare. This error message occurs on this finiky (but important) website when there is more than one way to spell a Metro stop. No worries. I will show you how to get around this.

If You Get an Error Message

Go back to the Google map that you left open and click on the Metro Saint-Sulpice icon. You will get a pop-up that says M4. That means your Saint-Sulpice stop is on Metro Line 4. Now, go back to the i-Metro Route webpage.

i-Metro is finicky. Searchers must use the exact words that i-Metro uses for Saint-Sulpice (or any stop). To find the stops on your route, click the "Line maps" button near the top of the i-Metro search page.
Under Route Search, change the subway from Ligne 1 to Ligne 4. (You might have to change the time of day to get your answer.)
Voila! Look at the stops on Line 4 and you will see see that you must type "St Sulpice" not "Saint-Sulpice."

Now, click the back arrow to get to the original i-Metro search page. Type in St Sulpice as the departure and Louvre (or whatever) as the destination. Make sure you have selected a daytime hour, such as 13:00. Click search. And, here are your results:

At St Sulpice, walk to Michel Debre (Click on the magnifying glass to see where this is.)
Take Bus #95 (notice bus icon) towards Porte de Montmartre.
Get off at Palais Royale-Comedie Francaise
Walk to the Louvre

How to Get Around by Paris Metro, Bus, and RER

With this handy-dandy i-Metro website and a Google map, you can find out how to get to Versailles, Sacre Coeur, or the great restaurant that your neighbor told you about.

You can switch your i-Metro search preferences. If you prefer to take the Metro, your results will reflect that. (Just know that the subway may have you zig-zagging around like a drunken sailor.) Alternately, you can choose to search for a bus or any combination of public transit. Just click the buttons on the search page.

Public Transportation Sites

Here are other websites that might help you hone in on your destination. If you want to double check the i-Metro Nanika site's recommendations, try these.

TravelSignPosts.com has a good map of the Paris bus routes. Bus #69 is an easy way to get to Champ de Mars and the Eiffel Tower. Use your keyboard to enlarge the map by clicking the plus key several times while pressing down the Ctrl (Control) key (on the bottom left-hand side of your keyboard).
ParisByTrain.com has a map of the local RER trains. These commuter trains are used mostly for getting out of the main core of Paris. For example, you can take an RER train to get to Versaille (Versaille Rive Gauche).
This RATP.fr interactive map might be the map for which you were searching. You can click around on this map and different lines will "light up." However, this map can be overwhelming for people who don't know the city.

I know these websites can be a bit confusing but, so far, I haven’t found a perfect website for mapping out Parisian itineraries. i-Metro Nanika comes close. And, the more you play around on these maps, the more you will understand how mass transit works in Paris.

Even if you don't end up using the Metro, you should look at a map of Paris. Notice how the boulevards fan out in different directions from traffic circles such as the Bastille and the Arc de Triomphe. If you stay along the Seine, you can't get lost. If you start exploring beyond that, you must remember the name of your "home" Metro stop.